The French Revolution - Ms. Karen Bolch

Focus:
  • Examine some words associated with this revolution
  • Explore some potential resources to help us understand the time period/causes
  • Review images, draw conclusions and create some questions

What is a Revolution? What is oppression? What is injustice?
Check out the Visual Dictionary: http://www.lexipedia.com/ type in each word, explore and discuss with a partner
Here is a word cloud generated with Wordle- words that are repeated are larger to display emphasis visually. What do you notice? What is the focus of the article?

These words were copied from the entire Britannica Encyclopedia article on the French Revolution taken from a database
wordle_revolution.jpg

Where do you go to get information about the French Revolution?

  1. Primary Sources – original documents - many have now been digitized - these are unfortunately in French but can be accessed at the National Library of France - you can select English from the top toolbar and explore the images - the text if you speak french.
    *When you begin to study the American Revolution or the Civil War make sure you check out the Library of Congress.The US database of primary sources.
  2. Databases-Subscription resources compiled by experts can be found for Peak to Peak
    Library Page
  3. Print Resources about the French Revolution can be found in the non-fiction section of the Library under 944.04
  4. Search Engines, such as Google yield 18+ million results if you search French Revolution. If you search "French Revolution" (quotations) there are 8 milllion results . Refine your queries.
  5. Recommended websites** and links from reliable sources (see side bar)

I used all these resources to collect 12 images for you and put them in a photostory (a free pc downloadable program that you can use for your own presentations to easily import images, text , and music). Please view the example photostory slide show below and select one image to answer questions about.

There are no photos from this time so paintings and etchings are the only visuals we have ~

I wonder who the artists were and where their sympathies lied....were they recording events or making

a statement with their paintings?

Click on the play button to view the images - check your volume button for low sound.


The images are numbered - please note the number of the one you will be referring to in your answers
.
Keep these questions in mind while you are viewing the slideshow:
  1. Which picture do I find most striking? Why?
  2. Which picture makes me feel the most uncomfortable? Why?
  3. What do I observe? strictly the facts about....
  4. What do I infer? give me the impression that......
  5. What do I wonder? Additional questions that I have......
  6. What do these images tell you about the life and time?
  7. How would you have felt if you were a peasant? An aristocrat?
If you would prefer to reference the images without the video, please see the images tab on the left or click here.
Select the Google form exit slip tab on the left and answer the questions
Hit submit when you are done - the excel sheet will populate with your answers on the overhead

Here is a simple but clear overview of the causes of the French revolution worth your time to read
http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/year8links/frenchrevolution_causes.shtml

Something to think about:
Do Revolutions only exist in the past? What “revolts” are going on today? Globally? In Denver?

If you finish early, please feel free to explore the additional links tab on the left navigation bar - there is a video there that you might find interesting

Bonus Question: What is blatantly missing from the slideshow of images?